The Protector

I watch her like a hawk.

Not to attack her.

But to save her.

She sits in the office window, mobile pressed to her ear, offering more than she needs to to someone who doesn’t deserve it. Yes there is a work opportunity for him, just like she told him many moons ago there could be. But she knows the time has been and gone when he might have deserved that opportunity. There’s no need to seek his approval now.

They finish talking about the opportunity. She changes the subject. “Did you like my invite” she says.

The hawk swoops lower. She’s on dangerous ground.

“I don’t expect you can come” she says.

The hawk is still.

“Yes nice invite” he says, “I can’t come, but I wish I could”. He offers no reason like people normally would.

The hawk swoops and gathers her in its beak.

“No problem.” She says. She asks for no reason. She’s not hurt. “Anyway, I must be getting back to work now. Bye.”

The predator soars away over the cliff tops, swallowing its weak prey.

She doesn’t need to persuade him of her worth. She doesn’t need him to come back.

She doesn’t need a replacement for the One she was separated from all that time ago, because she never really lost him. She was just too little to understand then.

But she’s a big girl now.

And she’s explained to the child.

“You never really lost him”.